I thought I would share what was put out on Shelf Awareness Pro this morning. Shelf Awareness comes to me via email, so I don’t have a link, but here is text (copy/pasted) about the “leak” of J.K. Rowling’s pseudonym:
London law firm Russells Solicitors issued a public apology for leaking J.K. Rowling’s identity as the real author of Robert Galbraith’s The Cuckoo’s Calling, the Bookseller reported. In a statement, the law firm apologized “unreservedly for the disclosure caused by one of our partners, Chris Gossage, in revealing to his wife’s best friend, Judith Callegari, during a private conversation that the true identity of Robert Galbraith was in fact J.K. Rowling.
“Whilst accepting his own culpability, the disclosure was made in confidence to someone he trusted implicitly. On becoming aware of the circumstances, we immediately notified J.K. Rowling’s agent. We can confirm that this leak was not part of any marketing plan and that neither J.K. Rowling, her agent nor publishers were in any way involved.”
Rowling noted that “a tiny number of people knew my pseudonym and it has not been pleasant to wonder for days how a woman whom I had never heard of prior to Sunday night could have found out something that many of my oldest friends did not know. To say that I am disappointed is an understatement. I had assumed that I could expect total confidentiality from Russells, a reputable professional firm and I feel very angry that my trust turned out to be misplaced.”
—
AbeBooks reported that the most expensive copy of The Cuckoo’s Calling sold this week was a Robert Galbraith-signed first edition for $4,453. Two unsigned first editions sold for $907 each. Three other first editions have also sold for prices in excess of $500 this week. One more signed copy is still available on the site for more than $6,100. AbeBooks had not sold a single copy of this book before the weekend.
Wow…I do wonder based on comments from last post on this topic, if someone was paid to take a fall? Then again, I don’t think a whole law firm would allow their good name to be smeared like this, so maybe not.
I know! I was thinking after Harryipant’s comment maybe it HAD been about marketing, except she still had a total of six months of mediocrity at best, right?? But…now, it seems it was the old “loose lips sink ships…” I wonder if that person will keep his job, or if Rowling will stay with that firm.
If I see anything more, I’ll share…
I still don’t get it. Why would she use another name, to feed some kind of writer’s ego, to prove she could cross genre? It’s not a money or fame thing, why?
Once you have it all what’s left to acquire?
The only thing left is power and being a debut writer ‘ain’t’ the way to rule the writing world, although, she was once a debut writer with the first Harry and look what happened after that.
As Arte Johnson used to say on (late ’60s & early ’70s) Laugh In, “very Interesting”.
Who can say, really…except it sounded to me like she really enjoyed the anonymity again – the idea of being able to get genuine feedback.
By the way…on Laugh In – wasn’t it more like “veeeeddy inta -resting?
Yup…sock-it-to-ME !
Or maybe a little power trip – see if she could do it again? Who knows? The only thing after you have it all is greed. And I’ve never seen Laugh In, but I know exactly the phrase you are talking about and how it was said! See what lots of reading and exposure to stuff does for you?! Lol